Musica makes you a musician – The Rakennus-project uses your movement to make music

One can become a musician simply by moving outside the Musica building.

Have you heard some sounds all of a sudden when you entered the Musica building? Have you tried to figure out the source of the sound or just started thinking that you are going crazy? Worry not, the sounds are real and you have just played an instrument.

Rakennus (meaning “building” in Finnish) is a new musical interface that uses technology to develop an unconventional musical instrument.

The system is rather simple and developed by master’s student Tasos Mavralambrados, doctoral student Juan Ignacio Mendoza and professor Jukka Loihivuori.

In the future, the Musica building is planned to be made more interactive with its visitors.

Rakennus consists of three parts: a computer algorithm, a camera capturing any changes in pixels at the entrance of the building, and passersby creating the input movements in the system.

Basically, the sound that you hear is shaped by your movements: how much space you are covering is linked with the pitch of the sound, and how fast you are moving changes the volume.

There are also a few sound options that you might want to play with. By pressing the red button in the entrance column of Musica, you can access the sounds of marimba, waves, the Finnish traditional instrument kantele, and Kekkonen to honor the former president.

The general aim of the project is to make people engage more with their surroundings. In the future, the Musica building is planned to be made more interactive with its visitors.

A similar musical application of the Rakennus instrument will also be displayed this summer at the Viitasaari Music Festival.

What’s more, with some adjustments the technology behind the Rakennus instrument is capable of detecting the slightest movement. Therefore, this application can even be used in other areas, for example in therapy.